Page 17 of Chinook Winds

“I understand,” she said and waited for him to say something more.

He couldn’t think of anything, so he kissed her cheek again and headed for the car. Regret followed him the whole way. He’d loved two people in his entire life. Sofia and Jamie. One had betrayed him. He didn’t want to think about what must happen if Jamie did the same. He waved as he drove away. As soon as he was back on the road, he called Martinez. “Have you dealt with him?”

The man was quick to respond. “I have. He’s locked in his room. My colleagues left with the woman.”

“Good. I need you to work on something else. My friend has been unable to locate this person. You have contacts who can assist. I’ll send you his name and a photo. I want him found immediately.”

“I‘ll handle it,” Martinez assured him. He was good at what he did. There was no doubt in Collins’s mind he would accomplish what he set out to do. Find the last remaining weak link before he could talk.

???

“This is it,” Danny said and turned onto a path that could barely be considered a road.

Victor peered at the overgrown brush. “Are you sure the van will fit through this?”

Danny smiled back at him. “I am.” He slowed to a crawl as tree branches slapped the side of the vehicle.

“Whose place is this anyway?” Ben asked.

“It belonged to Tom’s grandpa. He’s been coming here since he was a kid. It’s a great place to hide out.”

Victor could believe it. If one didn’t know the road was here, it was easy to miss.

Danny stopped in front of a gate. “Hang on a second. I’ll open it and we can drive through.”

Thick foliage made it impossible to see anything. The woods were populated with pine trees, making it impossible to see anything beyond their branches. Good for hiding out. Bad for seeing anyone advancing on them.

Danny returned and drove through the gate before relocking it. Then he continued along a snowy path filled with potholes.

At any other time, Victor could imagine living in a place like this. Nothing but him and someone special. Days filled with simple things. Whenever he thought about some future period when he was no longer president and there was nothing but time stretching out in front of him, his thoughts always included Kinsley. They’d never spoken about what would happen after Legion. She was good at what she did. Would she want to continue being a secret service agent? For him, he knew this would be it. There was little time left on his term. He’d right the ship and then hand over the reins to someone else. Because he’d seen enough bad things to last him a lifetime. Victor was ready to find something good to hang his future on.

???

A phone rang. James pulled it from his pocket. “It’s Tegan.” He answered the call and put it on speaker.

“We’re landing in Afghanistan now.” Tegan’s tone sounded strained to Kinsley. “There’s no one here.”

Two of their Afghani assets were to meet Tegan, Peter, and Deacon at the small abandoned airstrip.

“Are you safe?” James asked.

“We are. The flight was uneventful, which is a good thing.”

Kinsley had been told about Tegan’s story while on the trip to Canada and it had broken her heart. She couldn’t imagine being forced to choose between his brother and the country he loved.Father, please protect our people from the enemy.

“Someone’s coming.” Tegan sounded the alert. “A jeep.”

Kinsley clinched her hands together. Was it their assets or Legion’s people?

“I’m calling Badih. I want to make sure that’s him,” Deacon could be heard saying.

“I sure hope it’s our people because that jeep is coming at us at a fast speed.”

Tense seconds ticked by before Tegan confirmed, “That’s them. Hang on a moment.” A handful of klicks passed with muted conversation, and then Tegan said, “Badih and his partner were stopped and questioned. He was afraid they would be detained. He said the government here is on high alert. We’ll have to be careful.”

The warning settled uneasily around Kinsley.

“I’m switching to my video recorder so that you can see what’s happening.” The video app on James’s phone engaged. Tegan’s face appeared on the screen and then it was replaced with the sight of a faded looking primer-colored jeep spewing dust up as it approached.

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